Photo from www.europafrique.org

We are the proud grandparents of five. Two of our grandchildren were brought to our family through international adoption; they were orphans in Ukraine. The 6-year-old girl and her 4-year-old biological brother, along with their new mom and dad, arrived at Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport to find a waiting room filled with extended family and friends. The glint of amusement in our new granddaughter's eyes will long be remembered. She tightly held her new American Girl doll and chatted away in Russian, and we all pretended to fully agree with what she was saying. "Yes, yes!" we would say and envelop her in our arms.

One of the best moments was when our new grandson was wildly hugged and greeted by his 2-year-old cousin, who broke away from his mother, breached airport security rules by entering the "exit only" ramp and loudly yelling, "Welcome, Ryan!" We were so thankful that airport security did not arrest the 2-year-old. Shortly thereafter, the boys were sitting in a corner of the airport luggage area playing with toy cars. Family forever.

Two years have passed. The adopted children's English is perfect, their lives are full of laughter, and they are very loved.